Many Christians today are confused on the subject of jail house conversions. We hear about a person in prison that became a Christian and they want out of prison because now they are good people. Or someone gets out of prison after "paying their debt to society" and we are uncomfortable about them. We don’t know why we are uncomfortable and we feel guilty that we are not more forgiving. Perhaps they are a rapist or a child molester and they have moved into our neighborhood. We are told by the Christian community that now we should forgive and forget but we feel that something is wrong. Are we justified in our concerns or are we just somehow lacking in our ability to do as Christ said to forgive not just seven time but seventy times seven?

For an answer to this question let’s take a close look at the two thieves on the crosses beside Christ. What did they say and how did they differ? We all remember how the one was promised eternal life by Christ but if we take a close look at both men and compare their statements we will see how we might be able to better understand our discomfort with jailhouse conversions.

As we study this part of the life of Christ in Luke we read:

And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. Luke 23:39

As we read further we find:

But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Luke 23:40-42

Both men asked Christ to save them so what made the difference? Christ could have done what the first man asked. It was within his power to grant the man freedom from that cross. So why did he grant eternal life to the second man but apparently ignored the first man? What was different about their requests? Why didn’t Christ prove to the first man by his power that he was indeed the Christ?

The first thief wanted to avoid the penalty for his deeds. He wanted salvation from the penalty that was justly his to suffer. He wanted the freedom to continue a life IN SIN. The second man recognized his guilt and was willing to suffer the penalty that he knew he deserved. He didn’t turn to Christ to be saved from a death on the cross. His repentance went beyond that. He saw his true sinful condition. He wanted salvation from sin and its power. He wanted forgiveness for his sins not because he would be taken down off the cross if he did but because he learned to love the Lord. His faith wasn’t dependent on salvation from his immediate suffering but it was a faith that could save him from his sin. If he had lived he would have been a safe person in society but he didn’t ask for salvation from the punishment he was suffering. He didn’t say, "Okay, I have paid my debt to society now let me go!" No, like his Saviour he became willing to pay the price.

That is the difference. There are two kinds of repentance one is forced from a person when they see that they have to suffer for what they have done. The other kind of repentance is one that includes a turning away from sin. It is brought forth from a heart that sees just how horrible sin is and desires to turn from that sin. Friend do you want that kind of repentance? Even that can be given to us by our Lord. He can bring us to a point where we will have a true sense of our sinfulness and we will desire to live for Him.

And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. Luke 23:43

Today, friend Jesus can save you from a life of sin. He promises to give you a new heart.

Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? Ezekiel 18:31

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26

As we see the love that Christ had for us that he would die naked and bleeding on the cross for those who did sin we see just how evil sin is and we are drawn to him in a bond of love that melts the heart and gives us new desires and new motives. That makes us gentle and harmless even if we are to remain in prison to pay for our crimes.

I have read of some people that have been converted while in prison and one of the things that distinguishes them from others is that they no longer seek for freedom from prison because they have freedom that is within. One of those people was a man named Harry Orchard. After his conversion he didn’t look for an opportunity to escape nor did he fight for his rights. But because of his gentleness and kindness he was granted far more freedoms then another person in his circumstances would have been granted. He served his life sentence in prison a free man in Christ. More recently a young woman was executed who had become a Christian while in prison but one of the most marked things about her was that she didn’t seek to escape the penalty. She died happy in Christ because her life was safe in Christ. She had the promise of eternal life that no executioner can take away. Like Job she could say, "though he slay me, yet will I trust him."

Paul was a prisoner for a crime that he was never tried for. He was never brought to trial for the false accusations brought against him. But what did he do? He demonstrated such love and kindness to his guard that he was allowed to visit his friends. (Acts 27:3) In Acts 27:33-36 he encouraged the people on the boat to eat. In Acts 27:42-44 we see that his kindness and goodness saved all the prisoners from being killed. In Acts 28:3 we see that he was given freedom to gather wood. He didn’t use that freedom to seek out a way of escape or to try to get the other prisoners go help him make a plan to overtake the guards. By the time we get to chapter 28 verse 30 we see that he was living in his own house and was allowed to receive visitors. Read Acts 25-28 and think about how Paul acted and how he was treated. When in court he did speak the truth and did try to persuade the judges that he was unjustly treated but he didn’t try to gain his freedom by force or by deception.

Yet today we see a world gone mad trying to save the earthly lives of hardened criminals who have accepted the false idea that if they "get saved" everyone will just forget their past and they can go on in sin. The child molester is put back on the street and we are told that we should "love" them and go on as if nothing has happened. Or the murderer or thief is let free or granted pardon and the world becomes ruled by wicked people that we are suppose to love unconditionally.

So what is the solution? It isn’t a form of godliness that, in the name of love, brings evil into the church but rather a true love that seeks to give them a true picture of God that loved them so much that he died the death that they deserved that they might live the life that he deserved.

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Psalm 8:3-5

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

That kind of love doesn’t excuse sin but banishes sin. Sin is seen in its true character by the sinner and they desire that new heart and new life that Christ came to give them. This total conversion will render a person harmless and will be evidenced in their lives.

Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: Matthew 3:8

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Matthew 7:16

Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Matthew 7:20

Paul wrote to the church in Corinth about the problem of having fornicators in their church. What did he say? Did he tell them to just love them and not worry about them? No, read what he said:

It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. 1 Cor. 5:1-13

Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? 1 Cor. 6:2-5

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Cor. 6:9-11